“That’s the point,” Carlie said. “Matt was in on it, too, wasn’t he?”
“Yes.” I answered Carlie but looked at Nina, who seemed confused. “I was already pretty sure, because of some things I’d learned about the dog who attacked me, that the one who’d done it all was Si. Plus, he’d had access at any time to HotRescues and would have had no trouble pulling off one, or all, of the incidents. He bought a hoodie that looked like mine—and wore it when he thought the security guys might see him hanging around outside. He eventually stole mine, too—probably when he didn’t have his new one around.”
“He seems so obvious now,” Carlie said, sitting down opposite me. “Didn’t you know before that it was him?”
I narrowed my eyes into a hot glare that I hoped would weld her lips together. “You don’t know Si very well,” I told her. “He just seems like the nicest guy, always courteous, willing to help, training animals with love, staying in the background.”
“I get it,” Nina said. “Just a sec.” She hurried through the door to the kitchen and returned a minute later balancing three mugs filled with coffee in her hands. “He’s in love with you, Lauren. You know that.” I shrugged ruefully. “That’s his motive, of course. And why he never even tried to teach me to train animals, like he once promised you—since I’m not you. It all makes perfect sense—well, in an awful kind of way. He hated that Efram fooled you. Fooled us all. Then threatened us. So, to protect us—you in particular—he killed Efram. Right?”
“Right,” I said. I tasted the coffee. Good stuff—with just a hint of hazelnut. I took another sip. “But . . . well, I’m just speculating, but I think he expected me to cry on his shoulder about the threats, then be thrilled Efram was gone. I’d considered strangling the guy myself, but I just felt awful when he was killed at HotRescues . . . especially when the police were sure it was me. Si was really sympathetic about that, too. Offered me that shoulder again. But all I did was to try to figure out an alternative suspect for the cops. By then, Si was frustrated.”
“And maybe a little scared that you’d figure it out or the cops would?” Carlie leaned her elbows on the table and sipped her coffee.
“Exactly. He even called in an anonymous tip to the cops that I’d threatened Efram. Of course that was no surprise to anyone. I’d even told the detective about it. When the ‘tip’ didn’t result in anything exciting, Si conceived of this additional plot to make me feel bad—and look guilty. He put together the whole scenario with Honey in the storage shed. Apparently he jammed something into the security camera’s mechanism to keep it from panning around and photographing him when he moved Honey, then removed it later. At least that’s the official speculation. Detective Garciana just confirmed it to me, and it’s what they’ll assume during their interrogation of Si.” I sighed and looked at both of them. “I suspect now that Si was glad I was actually stabbed—a little bit more vengeance.”
“That detective seemed so sure you’d done it yourself to try to make the cops look for another suspect,” Nina said, sitting back at the table with us.
“That was Si’s intent.” I put my coffee mug down. “He even phoned Matt from here that night, making it look like I’d called him to direct suspicion from myself . . . again.”
“And you still didn’t take Si’s offered shoulder, I gather,” Carlie added.
I shook my head. “I liked the guy. Had no indication he was loony. Or, should I say in the interest of being politically correct, mentally unbalanced. By then, I was even more scared but determined—both to fix things for myself and not rely on anyone else. Not even Si, who tried hard to get me to lean on him—all the while also trying to get me to take the blame. So he dreamed up the last of his scary events.”
“Bringing in a nasty pit bull.” Nina shuddered.
“Not so nasty,” I corrected hastily. “I’ve notified Bubba’s owner. The guy sounded so nice and relieved. He’s coming today from Palm Springs and staying in LA till his dog is released back to him. Poor Bubba is evidence at the moment. Since Si only worked here part-time, it was easy for him to go unnoticed to Palm Springs, beat up Bubba’s owner, and steal the dog. A dog he knew could have a short temper with the use of the right drug.”
“Poor guy,” Carlie said. “Guys. Both the dog and his owner.”
I nodded and smiled. “My sentiments exactly.” I took another sip of coffee and continued. “At least the security company is cooperating. Apparently Si was talking to them, acting completely innocent as he expressed concern about my mental stability and how I might be hurting HotRescues with all the things I was doing around here.”
“Men suck,” Nina pronounced, taking a longer swig of her java as if she’d spiked it. Of course she had every reason to think so. But me? Well, I’d been lucky to have Kerry in my life. And even after all this nastiness I maintained a sense of optimism that not all men sucked, even if a lot of them did.
For some reason, Matt Kingston’s quick kiss last night, before he was taken into another room for a cop interrogation, butted its way into my thoughts, and I kicked it right back out again. Did I like him? Sure. Would I go out for a drink with him, or dinner? Why not? But that didn’t mean I’d succumb to a mad, passionate love affair. Let alone a caring relationship.
“So how did you determine it was Si?” Carlie demanded. “I know, when you pushed through that adoption event and invited everyone you suspected to come, you weren’t ruling anyone out.” She had the grace to look slightly embarrassed when Nina looked at her, then me.
“Did you really think I could have done it all?” Nina’s hoarse voice all but shouted out her pain.
“Like Carlie said, Nina.” I kept my tone gentle. “I was afraid to rule anyone out until I could be sure. I didn’t think it was you, but . . .”
“But,” she repeated sadly.
“But I’m really glad it wasn’t.” I stood and hugged Nina’s shoulder as she continued to sit there.
“So you had to do something so dramatic?” Carlie pushed. “I mean, really, why pretend that you were sure it was Matt Kingston and get that Si guy on your side to bring him down?”
“It’s more fun than just making accusations,” I said with a half smile. “But, really? It was because I needed to do something more than point fingers. I’d been doing that all along, and the detective on my case just ignored everything I suggested. This way . . . well, one good thing about our damned security company is that we just set up a new, higher-tech camera with a microphone right in here. It’s all there for the cops to see.”
My BlackBerry rang. I took it out of my pocket and glanced at the display. Dante.
“I’ve got to take this,” I told the others, and went into my office to be alone, in case the guy who funded my job decided to yank it away from me because of all that had happened. “Hi, Dante,” I said when I was sitting down behind my desk.
“So is all that stuff over now, at last?” he demanded with no greeting.
I took a deep breath to prepare myself for whatever nasty discussion might be impending and said, “I certainly hope so.” I leaned forward, holding the phone to my ear with one hand and planting my forehead on the other as I rested my elbow on the desk. Maybe I could keep my head from aching this way.
“The media’s all over the place with this, but there are insinuations that you staged some kind of scene last night to get the killer to confess. Right?”
That sounded so much like the path taken by his significant other, Kendra Ballantyne. I’d even tried her way with my pet adoption event and it hadn’t worked.
And yet, when trying to fix things for myself, I guess I did, subconsciously or otherwise, try to control things by creating a unique dog and pony show of my own to get the situation resolved.
This time, it had succeeded.
“Simple answer?” I said to Dante. “Yes, that’s right.”
“Good girl! You want a raise?”
I laughed. “I always want a raise. You paying?”
“We’ll see. You’ve gotten some good publicity here for HotRescues, after all.”
“That’s why I did it,” I joked, leaning back and smiling. But then I grew serious. “We still need to talk about our security around here. I involved Ed Bransom last night. I still had a niggling doubt about his innocence, despite being all but certain that Si Rogan was our bad guy. Bransom did come through, letting the cops in and all, but EverySecurity really screwed up all those times before.”
“Yeah, they did. They won’t again. I’ve had a long, nasty talk with my buddy, the CEO. Bransom is on probation for now. He apparently had an excuse for the way he acted—some supposedly confidential discussions with Si, who ‘let’ Bransom drag out of him how confused you seemed to be. Bransom claims that was why he felt so sure you were setting everything up. With that behind us, I’m fairly confident that they’re still the best outfit to protect HotPets, especially since I’ve got . . . Well, you’ll find out soon. That was another reason I was going to call you. Expect some company any minute. And let’s you and I get together soon to talk about what’s best for HotRescues, all right?”
“Sure,” I said, puzzled yet smiling as I hung up.
What company was he talking about?
I heard some additional voices as I returned to the welcome room. A couple I’d met before were there. Were these the people who’d expressed an interest in adopting Honey?
They were!
The Lees had been waffling before about if this was the right time for them to bring a dog into their lives. Then Mr. Lee had gotten a stomach virus and they’d had to contend with getting him better. Then—well, they had lots of reasons why they hadn’t made an immediate decision. But right now, they both seemed thrilled that Honey was still here and available. They’d answered our questions before and brought along proof that their apartment building allowed pets, so I believed I’d be able to approve this adoption.
Smiling at Carlie, I excused myself and Nina to go with the Lees back to the shelter area, where Honey remained in the first kennel. She leaped at the gate and seemed utterly in heaven when Mrs. Lee took her into her arms, closed her eyes, and hugged the small white dog.
“Come with me so we can go over the paperwork,” Nina told them. “Assuming everything checks out, you’ll be able to take her home today.” She looked at me, and I nodded my approval. This adoption had been pending for a while.
“Thank you!” Mrs. Lee murmured into Honey’s neck, and her husband embraced them both.
Nina told me she’d handle the details. She ushered them all—adopters and pup—upstairs to the more private area there for filling out forms.
Carlie was still in the welcome area when I returned.
So was Brooke Pernall, with her dog Cheyenne. Oh, no. Was this upbeat day about to be ruined because the poor, sick woman was here to leave her beautiful golden retriever after all?
But Brooke looked a lot better than the last time I’d seen her. Her hair was styled, complete with highlights. She wore a businesslike suit jacket over dressy slacks. And she was smiling. Except for some tiredness behind her eyes, there was no sign of illness now.
“Hi, Lauren,” she said. “Congratulations on solving that guy’s murder and the other junk that’s gone on around here. Won’t happen again. You can be sure of that.”
“I can?”
Carlie, who’d been standing, sat back down at the table, regarding us with interest. She reached over and started petting Cheyenne, who stood near her.
“Didn’t Dante tell you?”
I recalled that he’d said I should expect company soon. Brooke? “No, but—”
“He’s one great guy, isn’t he? Rich, and he knows how to use money to get the most good out of it. Here’s the story.”
But before telling me, she glanced down quizzically toward Carlie.
“She’s cool,” I said, and I waved Brooke to join us at the table.
“Here’s what happened,” Brooke said. “I’m now an official employee of HotPets—security director. I may have mentioned to you that I have a background as a private investigator. After checking me out, Dante hired me to supervise security for all of his organizations, and that will include HotRescues. I now have an income and medical insurance—and he also sent me to the cardiologist with the best reputation in LA. I’m on meds now that started helping immediately. I’m not cured, but the doc I’m seeing is hopeful that I’ll at least keep my heart issue under control, and if things change, he has other medications he can prescribe or possibly a type of surgery that’s successful a lot.”
“Wow,” I said. “That’s great!”
“It sure is. Plus, Dante had the clout to get someone at my bank to pay attention, so now my mortgage is manageable. Cheyenne and I can stay in our home.”
“This is really something,” Carlie said. I could almost see her thought process. How could she work this into one of her TV shows?
“I think we need to keep this private,” I cautioned her.
“I recognize you.” Brooke smiled at Carlie. “You’re the star of
Pet Fitness
. That’s a really cool show. But, yes, none of this is to become public—not with Dante involved.” She turned back toward me. “I’ll be making sure that EverySecurity does its job right, or they’ll be gone. Plus, I’ve got a couple of former coworkers who can moonlight and stay here at HotRescues overnight sometimes to make sure the animals are okay and to keep EverySecurity on its toes. I may even stay here myself now and then as time goes on—we’ll see. In any event, the security for HotRescues—and for HotPets, and even the wildlife sanctuary Dante funds, HotWildlife—is going to get a whole lot better.”
“That’s great!” I exclaimed.
She stood. “I just wanted to drop in and tell you this, Lauren,” she said. “And to thank you. If it weren’t for you . . .” Her eyes welled up, and I again saw the fragile, desperate woman she’d been when she had come here the last time.
I stood, too, and gave her a hug. “I’m really glad it all worked out,” I said.
Giving Cheyenne a quick tug on his leash, she hurried toward the door. “See you again soon,” she said. “We’ll work out a good security plan then.”